Sandy Starr is communications officer at the Progress Educational Trust (PET) – a registered charity that works in the fields of genetics, assisted conception, embryo/stem cell research and related areas – and webmaster of the charity’s flagship publication BioNews. He is also a member of the Ethics Advisory Board of the research project ‘European Autism Interventions: A Multicentre Study for Developing New Medications’, led by King’s College London and Roche, and he is a member of the Editorial Board of the charity Autistica.

He has consulted and spoken on technology and regulation for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Commission project RightsWatch. He spent several years writing weekly film reviews for the Sun newspaper’s TV Mag, and he has written for other publications including the Architects’ Journal, Arts Education Policy Review, Economic Affairs, Guardian, Hindu, In-Debate, Independent, Municipal Journal, New Humanist, openDemocracy, Tech Central Station, Times Higher Education, Times Literary Supplement and The Works (magazine of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors).

"I was astonished by the interest and by the fact that so many thoughtful and intelligent people were willing to give up a huge part of their weekends to listen to and discuss ideas."Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent, The Times